Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Prototypic "Dark" Warp Spiders


The Black Phoenix hybridization continues!  My goal is to create a Craftworld culture merged with Dark Eldar: the Black Phoenix, a darker version of both Eldar cultures joined as primary and ally contingents to form one mutable battle force for 40K.  In doing so I'm using the amazing Dark Eldar sculpts as the basis for making my own sleek and creepy aspect warriors and other cool conversions.

I've been brainstorming different ideas for making my own Warp Spiders -- cuz let's face it, the current ones are still the old ones and they're still pretty static and lame.  So pouring over my new Scourge kit I found new inspiration.  (Which means I need another Scourge kit because I certainly I don't want to be without my DE Scourge/Dark (Swooping) Hawks either!)


So here is my first build, and I'm going with it!  It's almost entirely Scourge, with a Reaver rider dome head and trophy racks on his back.  The scourge model is dynamic and graceful, yet armored to reflect the 3+ save of the Spider aspect armor.  All of them will be armed with shredders, which are basically the DE version of the Spiders' monofilament Death Spinners.  But the true spider look comes in on their backs.  My Spiders have six warp-generating cylinders on their backs that combine with a pair of long arching warp vanes, which not only allow them to teleport through the warp but give them an arachnoid look!  I never really saw the great detailed cylinders on the Scourges' backs before due to the awesomely distracting wings,  but replace the wings with trophy racks and you're all set!  The warp vanes on this model are just put in place with putty for now -- once I get my hands on some Incubi I intend to use those racks for these models.


So four of the squad will be like this one, armed with shredder/spinners (I already have plenty of bits for it) and all with the mysterious domed helmets.  The exarch model i intend to be bare-headed using a scar-faced head from another DE kit and he'll have four arms!  The Shrine of the Spider Aspect on the Black Phoenix, you see, has been tampered with by the Haemonculi Puppet Masters.  I have some wicked knived hands from the wych kit in mind for two arms, the shardnet arm to go along with the spider's web imagery, and then another shredder, possibly modified to look more advanced.  It will take some tricky surgery to merge four arms on these thin bodies, but I'm going to give it my all.  I envision black and red for the color scheme with white, grey, or silver highlights.  We'll see what happens, but that's the plan and I'm excited to see how it works out!!!

11 comments:

  1. Pretty cool! Look forward to the Exarch!

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    1. Thanks! I'm half afraid of the surgery job that'll be involved in trying to meld 2 arms to fit on these slender bodies, but if it works I'll be a happy as Dr. Frankenstein!

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  2. That's a cool idea, and I definitely like the execution thus far - looking forward to seeing more!

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    1. Thank you! Hoping to get the squad of five at least assembled over the holidays.

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  3. I like the look of the trophy rack, but the stance doesnt say spider to me. Any way you could use crouching legs?

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    1. I agree, Kevin. I ordered some Hellion legs from a bits joint a while back. I used one pair on the Beast Mistress and have 4 more that are all crouchy. I'm going to see what I can do with them and would like to have at least 2 spiders in more of a crouching/pouncing stance. I'll probably need to do some creative basing to give them something to be bouncing onto/off of.

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    2. hmmm... Looking at those hellion legs, only problem is that they are not as armored up as the scourge legs. A minor detail but a little bit of a bummer. Still, you are right, I need some crouchin tigers! (no hidden dragons -- fire dragons gunna be spiny warriors with blasters). Thanks again, Kevin!

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  4. I like this conversion a lot...and just when I was trying to come up with new Dark Eldar units to make based on existing Dex entries.

    Yup def going to steal this one in the near future!

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    1. Well if the Master of Cool Conversions is going to steal my ideas I take that as the highest of compliments!

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  5. Just stumbled upon these and there awesome! am currently starting a dark harle DE/eldar force and been looking for a good way to convert some warp spiders :) thanks for some inspiriation!

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    1. Thanks, glad you like them! You can see the finished products on further blog posts. :)

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